Painting of the original C-180 steel seats is next up ...
Glass bead stripped ok, looking for recommendations for painting process of these 4130 steel seats. Etch? Zinc chromate primer? Epoxy paint?
Thanks ...

epoxy, then a polyurethane single stage

if smooth just prep wipe and you should be able to go wet on wet from epoxy to the final color

+1

Slantbuggy wrote:epoxy, then a polyurethane single stage

if smooth just prep wipe and you should be able to go wet on wet from epoxy to the final color

Curious if there is an advantage to that, other than less time spent waiting?

Hardnose paint still needs a primer first.

Unfortunatley I paint almost everyday, own a resto and custome paint shop. If you are painting the frames black, after a good cleaning, spray black epoxy primer, Let it dry for an hour, then single stage black urethane, as mentioned above.

The epoxy will etch to the bare metal and the urethane will chemically bond to the epoxy. If the paint is scratched to bare metal at some point down the road, the epoxy will help inhibit the spread of rust under the paint next to the scratch.

cliff wrote: The epoxy will etch to the bare metal and the urethane will chemically bond to the epoxy. .

FYI... epoxy prime will not "etch" to the bare metal, but hold on to the roughness of the surface below.

It's a bit of semantics, but... There are two ways paint "sticks." A mechanical adhesion, and a chemical adhesion. One uses the "roughness" of the sub-strait to bond, and the other uses a chemical bond.

Etch v/ epoxy is a good debate, but the best practice is generally considered to be epoxy. If you are painting steel, use a mechanical bond and shoot epoxy primer. Its very strong, is more compatible with other products and doesn't lift like self etch can due to the acids. If you choose a combo that is engineered to work together, the top coat will then chemically bond to the epoxy and produce a long lasting finish.

As Cliff said, the epoxy will really give good corrosion protection even if the surface is insulted.

That said... I prefer to powder coat. All the seats I have done have been pulled down to their constituent parts, powder coated, and then reassembled.

Good luck!